Page:A hairdresser's experience in high life.djvu/12

14 had descended from their high position to be civil and agreeable to the humble stranger, and from my heart I shall bless and pray for them to the end of my days. Their gentle treatment will never be forgotten, and I hope the eyes of these dear people may some day meet this poor tribute to their kindness and worth.

At Toronto I was welcomed by my own relatives and their numerous friends and acquaintances, and received many invitations to balls, parties and social gatherings. After mingling in these gay assemblies for some weeks, I felt strongly inclined to identify myself with the English soil. Still I resisted the impulse. Thinking it was time to leave pleasure for something more important, I again returned to Buffalo, where there was no attraction to detain me for even a moment. As my husband had already preceded me to the West, I therefore hastened to Pittsburg by stage route, which was not without its incidents. Those who have traveled in those primitive days, before the invention of railroads, will readily recognize the truth of many discomforts which I might here relate, but for the fear of fatiguing the indulgent reader, who is about to follow my footsteps over land, ocean and prairie. We broke down innumerable times in the dismal recesses of the forests, were sheltered and fed by the kind Samaritans who inhabited the wilderness, where snow and ice-clothed field and dell, and where Winter seemed too firmly established ever again to yield to Spring's soft influences.

The day was dark and dreary upon our arrival at Pittsburg. Smoke hung like a pall over town and country, and but for the sociability and hospitality that reigns within doors, Pittsburg would be the gloomiest